Chapter 57: Trouble at the Pet Hospital
Vivian Lowell’s tone was gentle.
Julian Faulkner also gently curled the corners of his lips, picked up his chopsticks, and finished all the food Vivian had prepared.
About twenty minutes later, Julian put down his chopsticks, elegantly wiped his mouth, and asked, "What about you? Have you eaten?"
"Not yet."
Vivian shook her head. She grabbed a thermometer from the side and checked Julian’s temperature again. This time, it showed 37.2 degrees Celsius.
It was a slight low-grade fever. It looked like he was going to be fine.
Vivian let out a sigh of relief and asked, "Speaking of which, you were perfectly fine last night. Why the sudden fever?"
At this question, a hint of awkwardness flashed across Julian’s face, but he clearly didn’t want to answer.
Huh?
Vivian was very curious.
Last night, things had been a little bit ambiguous between the two of them. After returning to her room and lying in bed, she had tossed and turned for quite a while before finally falling asleep.
During that time, Vivian had also heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom outside her room.
Come to think of it, Julian had taken a bit longer to shower than usual last night. Could he have accidentally caught a cold while showering?
That was possible!
Vivian had read a popular science article online before. It claimed that men’s bodies were generally warmer, so they preferred cooler shower water. Therefore, if a couple showered together, the water temperature the woman preferred would often make the man feel like a pig being scalded!
Vivian had been highly amused by the phrase "scalded pig," which was why she still remembered that article even now.
It was quite interesting!
Thinking of this, Vivian smiled, not taking the matter to heart.
Julian, meanwhile, sneakily glanced at Vivian.
What he hadn’t told her was that he hadn’t been able to sleep last night because of the ambiguity between them.
He had gotten up and taken a cold shower.
For some reason, Vivian’s figure kept appearing in his mind while he showered, rendering the cold water less effective.
In the end, he had showered in the cold water for too long and ended up catching a cold and running a fever.
For an aloof CEO like Julian, this was an incredibly humiliating fact. Naturally, he didn’t want to tell Vivian, and thankfully, she didn’t press the issue.
However, he also noticed the smile on Vivian’s face.
He wondered, "What is she laughing at? What is she secretly happy about?"
Julian wasn’t sure. He was very curious, but he wasn’t willing to ask. He simply said, "Since you haven’t eaten yet, go downstairs and get something to eat. Don’t go hungry.
"I’m fine now. You don’t need to busy yourself with me anymore."
"Oh," Vivian agreed. She cleared away Julian’s dishes and went down to the first floor.
Down on the first floor, Rachel Faulkner happened to be seeing Jordan Quinn out. When Grandma Faulkner saw Vivian, her first question was, "How is Julian? Did he eat anything?"
"His fever has broken, and he’s eaten. He’s in pretty good spirits. Grandma, you don’t need to worry."
Grandma Faulkner breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, "That brat has always been in good health. How did he suddenly get a fever?"
However, Grandma Faulkner didn’t dwell on it. It wasn’t a big deal. Since his fever had broken, all was well.
With that in mind, Grandma Faulkner added, "By the way, Vivian, Shaw said dinner is ready. Shall we eat now?"
"Mhm!"
Vivian nodded, walked over to support Grandma Faulkner, and led her to the dining table.
Rachel returned as well.
Her expression didn’t look too good. Upon seeing Vivian, she said, "Vivian, Julian was being stubborn about not letting Dr. Quinn examine him. Why didn’t you try to persuade him?"
Rachel’s tone didn’t hold any blame; it sounded more like she was simply worried about Julian.
Hearing this, Vivian could only answer politely, "He’s probably just not used to being treated by an unfamiliar doctor. I’m really sorry, Rachel."
Vivian’s response was quite tactful, leaving Rachel momentarily speechless. After a nod, the three of them sat down to eat together.
After dinner, it was only a little past six.
Vivian had originally planned to take a walk with Grandma Faulkner before the sky turned completely dark, taking the family’s golden retriever for a stroll around the neighborhood.
Right then, Vivian’s phone rang. It was a message from Eleanor Rhodes.
After getting drunk that night, Eleanor hadn’t contacted her until noon the next day, saying that she felt much better, thanking Vivian for her company, and promising to pull herself together.
Eleanor had also sent a "working hard" sticker. The character on the sticker looked very cute, giving the impression that Eleanor had regained her vitality.
Vivian felt much more at ease.
As for Henry Sterling, there hadn’t been any news either. She had no idea how things were going.
She wondered if he had believed Wendy Wynn. If Wendy launched an offensive against him, would Henry be unable to resist and get back together with her?
As Vivian thought about this, she took out her phone and saw Eleanor’s message: "Vivian, I just went out to eat, and when I came back, I found that someone had left a box of cats at the door of my pet hospital!
"It looks like a cat cafe closed down, and they didn’t know what to do with the leftover cats! Plus, they’re all sick. Vivian, what should I do?"
Following the messages were several pictures.
In a cardboard box, there were many cats, including American Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, and Ragdolls. Every single one of them looked lethargic, with dirty eyes.
At a glance, it was obvious they were sick.
Eleanor had asked her family for money to open the pet hospital, but that was only enough to cover the initial rent, renovation costs, and equipment purchases. Later on, Eleanor had wanted the clinic to be self-sustaining, relying on the hospital’s income to rescue kittens to the best of her ability.
In the past, people would occasionally bring cats over, mostly because they couldn’t keep them anymore for personal reasons and wanted Eleanor to help find them adoptive homes. Although these cats might have minor issues, they usually weren’t serious, and treating them wouldn’t cost too much money.
But now, just by looking at the six or seven kittens in the pictures, Vivian could tell that they had major health problems. Two or three of them would probably even need to be hospitalized. They were the kind that required injections every few days. Conservatively estimating, the treatment cost for just one cat would be at least ten thousand yuan a month.
This was not a small sum. Even though Eleanor was the boss of the pet hospital, she couldn’t afford to take on such a massive loss.
However, Eleanor loved kittens and couldn’t bear to see these pitiful strays suffer. With someone dropping off such sick cats, Eleanor naturally didn’t want to give up on them.
Vivian thought for a moment and replied, "Tanya, don’t panic. Go check the security cameras first and see if you can figure out who dropped them off!
"If you can find him, talk to him and ask why he abandoned these cats. If possible, we can share a portion of the treatment costs together.
"If you can’t find him, we’ll think of another way, okay?"
Eleanor didn’t want to give up on treating the kittens and thought Vivian’s suggestion was quite good. She agreed for now, replying, "Alright, I’ll go check the cameras first.
"It’s going to be hard to find a place for these cats right now. There aren’t many cages left in the hospital, and I previously promised a friend of my mom’s that I’d go catch some stray kittens in an old residential area.
"If I bring those kittens back, there will be even less room here. We really need to discuss how to handle this."
"Mhm! I’ll come over and help you right now!" Vivian replied. She told Grandma Faulkner that there was an emergency at the pet hospital and she had to go out, before leaving the house.